“Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” ~ Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence
If you serve in a leadership position long enough, you will value the presence of more leaders in your organization.
The true test is this: How does your organization function in your absence?
Until you can answer that question with an unqualified affirmative, your leadership style is only creating more bondage for yourself. You will be obligated to be on-call for your job, department, company or clients to make sure daily operations remain on even keel.
There go your vacations, weekends, holidays and uninterrupted evenings…because life happens, and you have trained everyone to seek your leadership when questions arise.
How refreshing it is to get away from the office and return to find no crises arose while you were away (or because you were away!)?
The key to freedom lies in your ability to train capable replacements.
Training is leadership in sensible shoes. It may not look impressive at first glance, but it produces ease and comfort for the long haul.
I learned how to train when I was 15, at the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy. (drummajor.org) Yes, I was a band geek in high school, and my two years as a drum major afforded me life lessons in leadership at a young age.
The Drum Major Academy was in its second year and still being taught by Mr. Parks when I attended in 1979. Parks passed away in 2010, but his proteges and staff still teach 3,000 students a year how to be leaders among their peers. One of the key components is Parks’ training system.
Imagine my delight when my TV graphics mentor, J. Marty Dormany, founder of The Academy of Lower Thirds (http://www.academyl3.com/), invited me to become a freelance trainer while he was Director of Training at Chyron Corporation, now ChyronHego (http://chyronhego.com/). Marty uses the same training system to teach television graphic artists to get the most out ChyronHego Lyric and Ross XPression design and display software.
Now that I am a trainer with assignments that have taken me to client locations across the U.S. and in the Middle East, I still use the same system George Parks taught me nearly 40 years ago under a scorching July sun.
This system works. This system produces capable, independent operators. This system produces leaders. This system is insanely simple, regardless of how complex the subject matter is that you’re training.
1. Trainer explains and demonstrates steps while learner watches
2. Guided practice, trainer directs while learner executes steps
3. Guided practice, learner directs while trainer executes steps
4. Observed, independent learner practice with feedback from trainer
5. Learner goes back to Step 1 and reinforces learning by assuming trainer role with a new learner
If you find your organization seems to lack “institutional memory” when it comes to systems and procedures – if you wish you could take a break while someone else “handles it” – take time to train one person…and insist they train the next person while you watch, and so on…
Then, make reservations for a weekend getaway. You just knocked over the first domino that will result in cultivating healthy leadership and capable operators within your organization.
